This lovely Art Nouveau tower and shop on the corner of Westgate Road and Clayton Street are pictured around 1928, shortly after Northern Goldsmiths moved in.
There were high hopes that Westgate Road would become Newcastle’s principal shopping street in the decades after the Central Station opened, but it was eclipsed by Northumberland Street towards the end of the 19th century. Nevertheless, the jewellers Street & Co. still had faith in its potential in 1910 when they built this landmark building at the junction with Clayton Street.
The original building on the corner was built in 1837 by Richard Grainger, and Street & Co’s shop was next door to it on Westgate Road. The corner building was occupied by the confectioner George Haydock and became available in 1907 when his chain of sweet shops got into difficulties and was put up for sale. Street & Co bought it from him and set about expanding their business by combining the two properties.
They wanted something bold and contemporary so they hired the architects Cackett and Burns, who were designing the Spanish City in Whitley Bay at the time. They added the Art Nouveau tower and crowned it with a green dome, mirroring the dome on top of Atlas Chambers on the opposite side of the junction. It’s the only Richard Grainger building in Newcastle that’s been improved upon.
The company had been in business for 75 years selling diamond rings and necklaces as well as watches and clocks. They were a perfect fit for Northern Goldsmiths who acquired Street & Co and their building in 1928. They added the distinctive gold clock to the exterior in 1935, matching the one hung outside their Blackett Street branch the same year.
Northern Goldsmiths vacated the building in 1985 to concentrate on their flagship store on Blackett Street, the clock has never worked since. The upper floors were converted into flats in 1995 and the ground floor shop has had a number of tenants, it’s currently occupied by a dessert cafe called Soufflé Baby.